A federal appeals court has upheld a ruling that Maine Gov. Paul LePage was within his rights to remove a mural depicting the state's labor history from a state office building.

LePage created an uproar last year when he ordered the 11-panel, 7-foot-tall mural removed from a Labor Department waiting room because he believed it presented a one-sided view of history.

Five Mainers filed a lawsuit claiming the removal violated the mural artist's First Amendment rights. It was rejected by a federal judge in Maine and by the U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston on Wednesday.

The appeals court suggested critics of LePage can show their displeasure at the ballot box. The court said "governors and administrations are ultimately accountable to the electorate through the political process."